Saturday, May 10, 2014

Comics Capsule Reviews

4/30/14
Books

Star Wars: Rebel Heist #1

Star
Wars: Rebel Heist #1: Writer Matt Kindt injects a bit of spy intrigue into the
Star Wars Universe. Kindt’s Mary Sue character* Jan travels to the city of
Correlia to meet his hero Han Solo for a clandestine Rebel Alliance mission.
His cover is blown and Solo helps him flee from the Imperial authorities.
During the chase, Solo basically gives up and lets the bad guys take them. Jan loses
faith in his hero for his refusal to fight to the death. As they are both put
into Imperial dungeons, it’s clear that events are all part of Solo’s bigger plan.
But Jan is so angry he is ready to turn stool pigeon against the Rebels. Will
he come to his senses before they are both executed? In a big arena? By a big
saliva-dripping George Lucas monster?

This
is a fun start to the miniseries, with Solo running his patented multi-layered
con against the Empire. As usual, they look dumb enough to fall for it. I look
forward to the story unfolding nicely from here.

Rating:
***1/2 out of 5 stars

*
For those unfamiliar with the term, a “Mary Sue” is when the author puts
himself in the story as a thinly disguised character.

Southern Bastards #1

Southern
Bastards #1: Sometimes it’s tough to experience media set in the U.S. South.
Writers figure we’re all racist, shoeless idiots who suck on hay sticks and say
“y’all” a lot. Except for the “y’all” thing, that’s only like, 83% of us. The
rest of us are enlightened sweethearts who speak perfectly good, accent-free
English. Y’all.

Southern
Bastards opens with a splash page of a dog defecating in a field. Here we go
again, I thought. However, writer Jason Aaron and artist Jason Latour, both
from a lot deeper South than I am, present a pretty good crime story. In this
first issue, Earl Tubbs drives into Craw County, Alabama to clear out his
deceased father’s house. His father was a sheriff who ruled Craw County with an
iron hand. A tough, no nonsense lawman, Bertrand Tubbs may or may not have been
corrupt, we don’t yet have a clear picture.

Trying
to keep a low profile, that idea is blown to bits when Earl, having a piece of
pie in the local diner, stops the local druglord’s thugs from beating on a
loser who owes him money. Earl has now alerted the bad guys to the fact that he
is back, if only for a few days. He has not only made himself a target, but may
have to answer for his father’s legacy, whatever that might be.

I
don’t get the impression that Aaron is painting the entire South in a bad
light, so far this just seems to be a crime story set in that region of the
country. I’ll see what percentage of the population he paints as toothless
meth-heads before criticizing further. If it’s more than 83%, I may have to
write a strongly-worded letter.

Rating:
**** out of 5 stars

Rachel Rising #25

Rachel
Rising #25: More creepy goodness and back-to-life hijinks. Rachel and her
friends try to suss out who originally murdered her. Chloe stuffs firecrackers
into rats, drops them into a garbage can and lets physics do the rest. Aunt
Johnny limps into the house on crutches and surprisingly bonds with Chloe.
Rachel concocts a spell that will heal all of their various ailments in a day
or two so they can keep hunting the killers still loose in town. Highlight of
this issue: Earl asks Chloe if she has any scars. “None that show,” she
answers. Just too creepy. Can Terry Moore make a bad comic? I think not.

Rating:
***** out of 5 stars.

Silver Surfer #2

Silver
Surfer #2: I think writer Dan Slott may be on to something here. The Surfer
tries to save Dawn Greenwood’s life by battling a feminine cosmic being who
calls herself “the Queen of Nevers.”Meanwhile, Dawn doesn’t deal well with being a prisoner and conspires
with the other freaky alien abductees to break out of her containment cell. How
she does so is creative and amusing. After making nice with the Queen and
deciding she is not a threat, she shows the Surfer several of his possible
futures. He heads back to the Impericon to confront Zed, the mastermind behind
this whole wacky caper. Filled with comedy bits and fantastic pop art by
Michael Allred, this is becoming a book to watch.

Doc
Savage #5:The Shadow has always been my favorite of the pulp heroes (I don’t
really count Tarzan as a pulp). But the writing was better in Doc Savage. When
the original 181 Doc novels were reissued by Bantam in the ‘70s, I read around
the first 50 or so. I loved them.

﻿﻿This
title is taking Doc through the decades to the present day, and writer Chris
Roberson is showing a vivid understanding of Doc and his world. I miss the original
Savage crew, especially Ham and Monk bickering like old women. But Doc and his
cousin Pat are the only ones who got the benefit of the non-aging serum before
it was destroyed, so everyone but them is getting older. Doc keeps bringing new
blood into the group, such as Tamsin “Roughneck” Abbot (from issue 4) and Jetse
“Happy” Van Oorschot. The two are with Doc on an orbital mission in 1988, when
some cultists get an old Nazi laser satellite working and start to destroy wide
swaths of the West coast. After some narrow escapes, Doc manages to use
teamwork to dispatch the laser and still get everyone home safe. This issue features some fun close calls and a welcome addition of new supporting cast (a feature superhero
comics no longer offer for the most part), capped off by another great Alex Ross cover image.